Planar optical devices are optical devices based on waveguide technology, which are fabricated on planar substrates of various types. An optical chip based on this technology could contain only simple waveguides, single devices like couplers, or complex planar lightwave circuits consisting of a multitude of devices and functions. These optical chips are fabricated on planar substrates. Typically individual chips are fabricated in bulk on semiconductor wafers made from, for example, Si or InP. These wafers are subjected to various fabrication steps, like deposition of materials and etching, typically involving microlithography, to form the discrete optical devices in the substrate material or on top of the substrate.
Optical waveguides serve as connections between the planar optical devices as well as input and output terminals. After or during the fabrication it is desirable to test the functionality of the optical chips to prevent shipment, sale or use of non working chips. Some chips may include optical sources like lasers and detectors on the chip itself, which allows for standard electronic on-wafer testing utilizing electrical connections to the wafer. However, other chips may require the tester to couple light into the chips or out of the chips in order to perform the tests. In this case, the chip usually must be separated from the wafer to allow access to the chip to couple light from optical fibers or other chips into the waveguides at the facets of the chip. In many cases, the facets of the chip to be tested have also to be polished. A typical example is the preparation of laser bars from wafers which allows testing of edge-emitting lasers. The wafer is separated in bars to keep the number of pieces to be handled low. Nevertheless, it would be advantageous to test such lasers en masse on complete wafers because the handling of bars or chips after separation is tedious and time-consuming. Accordingly, there is a need to test the optical chips prior to separation from the wafer.
It is known in the art to test optical devices that emit or receive light vertically (perpendicular to the wafer plane). An example of a vertically accessed optical device is a VCSEL (Vertical Cavity Surface Emitting Laser). A vertical testing method of a VCSEL is disclosed in US Patent Publication 2001/0021287 A1. However, this process does not allow for vertical testing of optical devices whose input and output ports are in the plane of the wafer, with waveguides in the same plane.
Some have tried to allow for optical access from the surface of the wafer by including devices on the wafer, which redirect the light from a planar direction (parallel to the surface) to a direction perpendicular to the surface. To access the light vertically from the planar optical devices with waveguide in the wafer plane, Kuwana et al. in Japanese Journal of Applied Physics, Vol. 38 (1999) has fabricated a triangular shaped Al mirror underneath the waveguide to deflect the propagation direction of the light in the waveguide. The light is deflected by the mirror, travels upward. A similar process occurs in the reverse direction. Thus vertical access to the planar waveguide is achieved in this prior art. Another example is U.S. Pat. No. 6,337,871 B1 for a multiple edge-emitting laser components located on a single wafer and the on-wafer testing of the same, where the inventors include special devices on the wafer to redirect the light of laser perpendicular to the surface. However, these constructions require additional structure to be integrated with the chips as part of the wafer adding to the complexity and time required to manufacture such wafers.
Accordingly, a method and apparatus for testing chips on the wafer, which overcomes the shortcomings of the prior art is desired.